This one saves me on the regular. When you’re done with your writing session, make a note to yourself in your document about what you were working on and what you intend to do the next time you open your WIP. It helps if you make this note right at the spot you were working on, and another reminder at the top of the document. I like to change the font color and increase the size so I see it right away the next time I open my document.

You might not always go back to what you were working on before. But this trick can save you a lot of time reading through your WIP and trying to remember where you were going. Plus it can keep your WIP from becoming a giant mess of half-started ideas and editing tweaks.

Some examples of recent notes I’ve made to myself in my WIP:

“…working on adding more detail to the dormitory scene. Two more paragraphs to go… left off HERE.”

“…got confused about the layout of the house and stopped to make a map. Refer to map and finish editing this scene.”

“…changing scene from past to present tense… left off HERE”

“…finish writing the breakfast scene”

At the very least, making a note to yourself will give you a clear direction the next time you approach your WIP. If you choose not to follow it, that’s fine, but it’s nice to have the option, and it only takes a few seconds to jot down a reminder to yourself.

“An opera begins long before the curtain goes up and ends long after it has come down. It starts in my imagination, it becomes my life, and it stays part of my life long after I’ve left the opera house.”

venerdì 29 dicembre 2017

“His library was a fine dark place bricked with books, so anything could happen there and always did. All you had to do was pull a book from the shelf and open it and suddenly the darkness was not so dark anymore.”

“Fall in love and stay in love. Explode. Don’t intellectualize. Get passionate about ideas. Cram your head full of images. Stay in the library. Stay off the internet and all that crap. Read all the great books. Read all the great poetry. See all the great films. Fill your life with metaphors. And then explode.”

1. If there were one word which was automatically to your name in Google searches, which word would you want it to be?
2. What is a goal that you recently met?
3. What is your favorite time of day?
4. Name a celebrity you find attractive.
5. What is one of the best pieces of advice you have ever received?
6. What is the ultimate gesture of total trust?
7. What is the best compliment you have ever received?
8. What is something you have changed your mind about?
9. What is something you’ve never changed your mind about?
10. Rewrite the end of a fairy tale.
11. Choose one: you will never misunderstand the meaning of what someone else is saying OR nobody will ever misunderstand what you say.
12. If offered irreversible immortality, would you take it?
13. In your opinion, what are the most important qualities of a good friend?
14. If you could be a founding member of a space colony, with the caveat that you would never be able to return to Earth, would you go?
15. What is your favorite superpower? Why?
16. If you were a book, which book would you be?
17. If you found out that your life was a book, and you met your author, what would you say to them?
18. How would you prefer to die?
19. What is your favorite paradox?
20. Tell us five facts about your first love, or, if you haven’t had one yet, invent the story of meeting your first love.
21. If you could live anywhere for a year, where would you live?
22. If you could visit anywhere for a week, where would you go?
23. You can only read one genre of books for the rest of your life. Which genre do you read?
24. Define “love.”
25. Define “justice.”
26. Define “truth.”
27. Define “art.”
28. Define “good.”
29. Define “obscene.”
30. What one thing in the world would be hardest for you to give up?
31. What is one thing you regret?
32. What is something that you have done that you are proud of?
33. Is it easier to talk or to listen?
34. When are you vulnerable?
35. If you met God, what would you say to God?
36. Would it be harder to tell someone you loved them if you weren’t sure how they would respond, or have to tell someone that you didn’t love them back?
37. Excluding romantic love, when was the last time you told someone you loved them? Who were they to you?
38. What is your worst quality?
39. What is your best quality?
40. What is your most immediately noticeable quality?
41. What is the first thing you notice about other people?
42. Describe one of your closest friends, and explain why that person is such a close friend.
43. What happened in the last dream you remember?
44. What was your most memorable dream?
45. Two truths and a lie.
46. If you were having a baby with the love of your life, and they insisted that the child be named after a place, what would you name your child?
47. What is the last lie you told?
48. Is it possible for you to love someone you don’t trust?
49. What motivates you most?
50. What is your favorite narrative trope?
51. Describe the ultimate dystopia.
52. What story (book, movie, game, etc.) have you learned the most from?
53. What is something you wish other people could know about you without you having to tell them?
54. Describe a moment you experienced something unexpectedly beautiful.
55. What is the biggest challenge you face when trying to form relationships with people?
56. How close do you think your perception of yourself is to how other people perceive you?
57. What is something you used to be afraid of, but aren’t anymore?
58. What is the most important emotion?
59. Do you think humans are any different than very advanced organic robots? If so, how?
60. If you had to move somewhere else, what would you miss most from where you are now?
61. If you were a videogame character, what would your iconic weapon be?
62. What is an aspect of your personality now that would come as a surprise to your younger self?
63. If you could eliminate one event from the last month, which event would it be?
64. If you had to forget the entire last year except for one 24 hour period, which day would you chose to remember? (Other people would remember, and you would have anything you wrote down or recorded during that time period - you would just have a form of amnesia.)
65. What is the most upsetting thing anyone has ever said to you?
66. If you had to pick only one ideal or cause to work toward, what would it be?
67. Are there any unforgivable actions? What are they?
68. Under what circumstances is keeping information secret acceptable or morally required?
69. What is one of your favorite ways to relax?
70. What is something you find difficult to talk about, even though you know you should?
71. What is an easy, default topic of conversation?
72. What is your favorite sort of conversation?
73. What is a version of you in an alternate reality doing right now?
74. What was the last adorable thing you saw?
75. Would you prefer for people to hate you or for people to be completely indifferent to you?
76. Would you prefer to be yelled at or ignored?
77. What is your favorite word and why?
78. What is your dream job?
79. What is the most difficult thing you’ve done this month?
80. When was the last time you were really scared?
81. What do you want most?
82. Describe an ideal day.
83. If you could speak to any real (non-fictional) person, living or dead for one hour, who would it be?
84. In general, are you happy with the person you have become?
85. Do you want to be a parent?
86. What is something unusual about you that not a lot of people know?
87. What makes you you?
88. Are you lonelier when you’re with people or when you’re alone?
89. What makes you feel safe?
90. What was the last bad decision you made?
91. Who is someone you have utmost respect for, and what is it about that person that makes you esteem them so highly?
92. What was the last thing you laughed uncontrollably at?
93. Your friend tells you that they are suicidal, and asks you not to tell anyone. Is it more of a betrayal to tell someone, or to keep silent?
94. What song speaks to you most? Why?
95. What basic values or principles do you turn to when faced with moral dilemmas?
96. If you had a tagline, what would it be?
97. If applicable, what do you look for in a romantic partner?
98. Who is your favorite author?
99. Who is the one person you know who is most similar to you (in terms of personality, beliefs, attitudes, mannerisms, etc)?
100. What are you most excited about right now?